Google Chrome Crashing, Freezing or Not Responding? 7 Ways to Fix It
Google Chrome is a fantaѕtic web browser, but there are times when Google Chrome crashes, freezes, or simply stops responding.
There are a lot of reasons these behaviors can occur, so
it’s important to be very methodical when you’re troubleshooting and trying to
fix the issue.
This article will walk you through the typical fixes that
resolve this issue, from the most common issues to the more rare and complex
ones.
1. Make Sure There Are No Internet Issues
The first thing you should check before you worry about
troubleshooting Chrome is whether your internet connection is down.
Select the Start
menu, type network status, and
select the Network status system
settings.
Make sure that the current network status is: You’re connected to the internet.
If the status doesn’t say this, you’ll need to work on troubleshooting
your internet connection before moving on.
If the status does say this, you’ll also want to test the
internet connection with a different browser, just to make sure the issue is
centered only on Chrome.
If you can’t connect from other browsers as well, then you
know there’s still a problem with your internet connection and not Chrome.
However, if the other browser connects fine, then you know
the issue is only with Chrome and you can continue with your troubleshooting.
2. Chrome Didn’t Properly Close
One of the most common reasons
Chrome stops responding is because the tabs you’ve closed over time never
actually closed the process. Over time, these Chrome processes add up and
consume all of your RAM.
Eventually, Chrome stops
responding entirely. This can cause crashing, freezing, or Chrome may not open
at all.
To see if this is the case,
right-click the taskbar and choose Task
Manager. In the Processes tab,
you’ll see all of the Chrome processes that are still running in memory.
Right-click on the top-level Google Chrome process (the one
with the number next to it) and select End
Task.
This will close all running Chrome processes, free up RAM
space, and allow you to relaunch Chrome again.
Before you do open Chrome again, it’s a good idea to scroll
down the other processes in Task Manager and end any that shouldn’t be running.
This can help free up even more RAM space.
3. Disable All Chrome Extensions
Another common issue that
causes Chrome to crash or freeze are malicious or poorly designed extensions.
When this happens, it’s difficult to know which extension is causing the issue.
Because of this, the easiest
solution is to disable all extensions and then enable only the ones you really
need one at a time.
Launch Chrome. In
the URL field, type chrome://extensions/
and press Enter.This will open
the extensions page. Disable all active extensions.Once extensions are disabled, restart Chrome.Again, in the URL field, type chrome://extensions/
and press Enter.
Now, one at a time, enable each extension and restart
Chrome.
Once you enable an extension that prevents Chrome from
working properly, you’ve found the problem extension. Uninstall it to fully
repair Chrome.
4. Use the Chrome Malware Scanner
If none of this worked, you may have malware that’s
interfering with the operation of Chrome. Chrome has a secret weapon against
this; an embedded anti-malware scanner that will scan your computer and find
any problem apps.
To use this scanner:
Launch Chrome and open Settings.Scroll down and click Advanced to open all settings.Scroll down to the Reset and clean up section and click Clean up computer.
This will open a window where you can launch the Chrome
malware scan. Just select the Find
button to start the scan.
Once the scan is done, it’ll list all incompatible apps.
Just select the Remove button to the right of the app name to remove it.
Hopefully once you’ve removed the problem app, Chrome will
start working fine again.
5. Reset All Chrome Settings
If all else fails, you can reset Chrome to its original
settings.
This can help because there are times when tweaking the
wrong settings can eventually cause issues with Chrome, especially if you’re
enabling beta features.
You can fix all of that by resetting Chrome.
Launch Chrome and open Settings.Scroll down and click Advanced to open all settings.Scroll down to the Reset and clean up section and click Restore settings to their original defaults.
This will open a window with a warning that all Chrome
settings will be reset. Just select Reset
settings to continue.
Keep in mind that this will
disable all of your extensions, clear temporary data, and it’ll wipe out all cookies.
However, it won’t clear your
bookmarks, history, and saved passwords.
6. Remove Incompatible Applications
There are some applications that can interfere with the
normal operation of Chrome. Chrome can detect this and list the bad
applications in a list buried inside Chrome settings.
The check if there are any such apps:
Launch Chrome and open Settings.Scroll down and click Advanced to open all settings.Scroll down to the Reset and clean up section.
If Chrome has detected any incompatible applications, you’ll
see an option listed here as: Update or
remove incompatible applications.
Click this to see the list and remove the applications from
your computer. After this, Chrome should start working normally again.
7. Uninstall and Reinstall Chrome
Finally, the last resort will be reinstalling Chrome. You
may not have to fully reinstall it if a simple repair works.
Select the Start
menu, type Control Panel, and select
the Control Panel desktop app. In
the Control Panel, select Programs &
Features.
Find Chrome in the list of installed programs, right click
it, and select Uninstall.
Note: Before
doing this, make sure you’ve downloaded a fresh copy of the Chrome installer so
you can easily reinstall Chrome.
Once the uninstall finishes, rerun the Chrome installer you
downloaded. After Chrome has fully reinstalled, it should work normally again.
Fixing
Chrome Issues
As you can see, there are a lot of potential issues that can
cause Chrome to crash, freeze, or not even load. However, if you work through
the steps in this article methodically, you should be able to get it working
fine again in no time.